Onuma was pretty quiet yesterday but the Whooper Swans briefly had some company...............
1 Bean Goose and 2 White-fronted Geese were resting on the small ice free patch............
You can really see the size difference between the 2 species when they are together.
Grey geese are not especially rare near Hakodate but they aren't common either (the big flocks which pass through central Hokkaido on their way to southern Japan pretty much bypass our area).
Also with the Whoopers/Mallards were 1 Little Grebe, several Smew, Goldeneye and Goosander and a couple of Common Teal. Not much else around except a pair of White-tailed Eagle..............
There are signs in Japanese (and also English and Chinese) asking people not to feed bread to the swans. Yet every time I go there there are families of Japanese (typically 3 generations from gnarled grandparents through squawking mothers to screaming kids) who blatantly ignore the signs and toss bread and salty snacks to the wildfowl. Should I say something? I almost thought about pointing to the sign and saying 'can you read?' in Japanese today but stopped just short. Next time maybe.
If it’s any consolation “Do not feed the wildlife” signs are ignored world wide.
ReplyDeleteI guess some folk everywhere think such signs can't possibly apply to them........
DeleteThe Bean Goose really IS big....
ReplyDeleteAs for the people feeding the swans, trying to put them right could be just step 1 in a path to cross-cultural misunderstanding.
The signs should explicitly say that bread can poison swans and ducks with pictures. Still wouldn't stop some idiots doing it though.
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